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North Korea will have developed a compact nuclear warhead that can be attached to ballistic missiles and fired onto the U.S. mainland by next year, a top strategist predicted this week.

This scary warning comes from Larry Niksch, a senior associate at a prominent bipartisan thinktank, Center for Strategic and International Studies, according to Chosun Ilbo.

Niksch said that if Pyongyang secures the appropriate technology, it will never abandon its nuclear program, thereby rendering the six-party talks aimed at denuclearizing the country ineffective. He said the U.S. needs to fundamentally rework its policies regarding the North's nuclear weapons programs in order to make progress.

He went on to say that the U.S. strategy of trading denuclearization for the prospect of establishing diplomatic ties with Washington will continue to depreciate in value as the North becomes stronger militarily.

Niksch envisaged a future scenario in which the U.S. would need to station an ambassador in the North Korean capital to manage the nuclear weapon risks in the Korean Peninsula. At the same time, the U.S. would be compelled to recognize the communist state as a de-facto nuclear power.

Although North Korea's economy is in disarray, everything changes once militarization reaches a certain threshhold. Kim Jong-il already named the Libyan intervention as an example of what happens when countries give up nuclear weapons -- don't expect him to do the same.